Overview
Laravel is a batteries-included PHP framework for web applications. A new app includes routing, controllers, the Eloquent ORM with migrations, validation, queues and scheduled tasks, mail and notifications, caching, and authentication starter kits. Frontends can be built with React, Vue or Svelte through Inertia, or with Livewire and Flux UI for server-driven interfaces.
First-party packages cover subscription billing (Cashier), queue monitoring (Horizon), a high-performance server (Octane), full-text search (Scout), feature flags (Pennant), API tokens (Sanctum), OAuth login (Socialite), WebSockets (Reverb), debugging (Telescope) and performance monitoring (Pulse). Laravel 13 added a first-party AI SDK for text, agents, embeddings, images and audio.
Major versions ship yearly, around the first quarter, with 18 months of bug fixes and two years of security fixes. Laravel 13 (March 2026) requires PHP 8.3 and was designed as a small upgrade.
Laravel is also a company. It sells Laravel Cloud (managed hosting with scale-to-zero compute, serverless Postgres, Valkey cache and queues; Starter $5 a month plus usage), Forge (server management from $12 a month), Vapor (serverless on AWS), Nightwatch (monitoring), Nova (admin panel) and Herd (local development). None is required to use the framework.
Pricing and plans
| Plan | Price | What you get |
|---|---|---|
| Framework | Free | Open source (MIT) |
| Laravel Cloud Starter | $5/mo + usage | Includes $5 usage credit, scale-to-zero compute, 10 custom domains, 1-day logs; first month free |
| Laravel Cloud Growth | $20/mo + usage | Autoscaling to 10 replicas, preview environments, basic WAF, team roles, 7-day logs |
| Laravel Cloud Business | $200/mo + usage | Unlimited and scheduled autoscaling, advanced WAF, custom roles, 30-day logs |
| Laravel Cloud Enterprise | Custom | Dedicated compute, private networking, 24/7 incident response |
| Forge Hobby | $12/mo | Server management on your own VPS or Laravel VPS; 1 external server |
| Forge Growth | $19/mo | Unlimited servers, 5% Laravel VPS discount |
| Forge Business | $39/mo | Unlimited servers, 15% Laravel VPS discount, advanced support |
What it does
- Eloquent ORM
- Active-record ORM with relationships, migrations, factories and seeders.
- Queues and scheduling
- Background jobs with multiple drivers, Horizon monitoring and a task scheduler.
- Starter kits
- Auth-ready starters for React, Vue or Svelte via Inertia, or Livewire.
- First-party packages
- Cashier, Sanctum, Socialite, Scout, Reverb, Octane, Pennant, Pulse and more.
- AI SDK
- Provider-agnostic text generation, agents, embeddings, images and audio (Laravel 13).
- Laravel Cloud
- Paid managed hosting with scale-to-zero, autoscaling, Postgres, Valkey and queues.
Strengths and limitations
Strengths
- One of the most complete framework ecosystems in any language
- Yearly, low-drama major releases with published support windows
- First-party hosting and server management if you want it
- Large community, tutorials and packages
Limitations
- Each major version has a fixed support window (18 months bug fixes, 2 years security), so apps must upgrade yearly-ish
- Laravel 13 requires PHP 8.3 or newer
- Named arguments are not covered by Laravel's backwards-compatibility promise
- Several useful tools (Cloud, Forge, Nightwatch, Nova, Vapor) are paid products
Who it suits
Good for
- SaaS products and web apps in PHP
- Solo developers and small teams wanting everything in one stack
- Agencies building many client apps
Look elsewhere if
- Teams that do not want PHP
- Tiny single-purpose APIs where a micro-framework is enough
Pricing history
-
Laravel 13 released
Released 17 March 2026, requiring PHP 8.3 and adding a first-party AI SDK, JSON:API resources and vector search; bug fixes until Q3 2027 and security fixes until 17 March 2028. Source ↗
-
Laravel Cloud launches alongside Laravel 12
Laravel's managed hosting platform went live on 24 February 2025, the same day Laravel 12 and new React, Vue and Livewire starter kits shipped. It is now priced from $5/month plus usage on the Starter plan. Source ↗
Alternatives to Laravel
| Tool | From | Free option | Stages |
|---|---|---|---|
| FastAPI Python API framework | $20/mo | Free tier | |
| Encore Backend framework with infrastructure from code | $49/mo | Free tier | |
| Gin Go HTTP web framework | — | ||
| Ruby on Rails Full-stack Ruby web framework | — | ||
| Fastify High-performance Node.js web framework | — | ||
| Django Batteries-included Python web framework | — |
Questions
Is Laravel free?
Yes, the framework is MIT licensed. Laravel Cloud, Forge, Nightwatch, Nova and Vapor are paid products.
How much does Laravel Cloud cost?
Starter is $5/month plus usage (with $5 credit included), Growth $20/month plus usage, Business $200/month plus usage.
How long is a Laravel version supported?
Bug fixes for 18 months and security fixes for 2 years after release.
Can Laravel be used with React?
Yes, through Inertia starter kits for React, Vue or Svelte.
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